


A Vision of You

by eveshka



Series: Tales of the Dawn King [44]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-07
Updated: 2017-08-07
Packaged: 2018-12-12 03:58:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11729040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eveshka/pseuds/eveshka
Summary: Prompto Besithia Argentum was still figuring out who he was, but one thing was certain: he hated to sleep.





	A Vision of You

**Author's Note:**

> Rating: T  
> Warnings: None  
> Characters: Prompto Argentum, Carbuncle, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Ignis Scientia  
> Time Period: Year 5 After the Dawn  
> Location: Unknown/Altissia

Prompto had changed in the five years since the Dawn. Prompto Argentum was a somewhat skittish and uneasy person, given to anxiety and nervous bravado. Prompto Besithia was calculating, a crack shot, and methodical in action. Prompto Besithia Argentum was still figuring out who he was, but one thing was certain: he hated to sleep.

Alone, he prowled the nights, pacing the shadows near Hammerhead in solitary search for something he couldn’t quite catch. With others, he took first watch and frequently forgot to wake them for their shifts. More than once a visit, Aranea would wake to find Prompto awake and staring into nothingness as he walked the halls of his mind more often than the outside world.

But some nights he fell, unable to stay awake for exhaustion, and those nights, he was lost to nightmares, to terrors that formed in the shadows of Costlemark’s memory. Shapes slipped through Zegnautus and Gralea, whispering for him. His best friend, pinned to the throne by his father’s blade, begging for mercy to dead Astrals that could not hear. Those were the nights where Prompto awoke screaming.

 

This night found him wandering the empty halls of the Citadel, hands clapped over his ears so he couldn’t hear the ragged voice crying to Ramuh, to Shiva, to any Astral that might be listening to end it, to end him, to let him die. Prompto wanted to die too on nights like this. Fall into oblivion where the dreams couldn’t reach and let him fade into the peace of nothingness.

But even as he fell, as he finally stepped over one too many thresholds, he flailed, reaching, grabbing. Catching.

 

He pulled himself up, standing in a walled garden filled with flowers, the sun warm on his skin. Where was he? This was… Altissia? And what was… wait a moment, wasn’t that… Carbuncle?

A chirp, strangely affirmative, and bright black eyes were fixed on Prompto. Ears perked forwards, and a tail flicked back and forth, the body language all but begging Prompto to follow. So follow he did, stumbling through the flowers that he could not name, until he came around a corner and stopped as sharply as if he’d hit a wall.

Moogles and Chocobos were suspended everywhere he looked, big cheerful signs proclaiming it a Moogle Chocobo Carnival. It was amazing and bright and almost everything that might have lifted Prompto’s heart. And yet, somehow something was missing.

As if Carbuncle understood, it chirped brightly and led the way up a flight of stairs to a fountain where Prompto’s ears caught two heartachingly familiar voices. Noctis. And Ignis too, older, yet untouched by pain and injury. Walking shoulder to shoulder, talking quietly, laughter playing about them both. Ignis had a tonberry plush under his right arm, and was clearly motioning to it while speaking to Noctis.

They moved past Prompto, through him to behind, and he spun in disbelief, watching the pair as Noctis clapped Ignis on the back and laughed. Ignis laughed too, and Prompto’s mouth fell open. Was this a dream? Was this something stranger? Why was he seeing this? How?

They didn’t act as if they could see him, and yet they were so close, so… familiar. Prompto almost felt as if he were intruding on an intimate moment, but he couldn’t back up; Carbuncle was busy bumping the back of his leg, making him step forwards and follow.

Noctis, laughing, slipping his arm in Ignis’ while the older man shook his head, hips almost touching as they walked together. Prompto could hear the cadence of their voices, but the words were indistinct. He didn’t really need the words, he realized, and slowed to a halt, clasping his hands behind his head and watching his two friends as they moved away from him, lost in each other’s company.

Carbuncle chirped, and Prompto smiled as Noctis and Ignis rounded the corner and moved out of sight. When Carbuncle chirped again, Prompto shifted to kneel to the small creature and reach out to scratch under its chin as if it were a pet. “Wherever they are… wherever this is… if they’re happy… I can let them go.”

The teal creature closed its eyes and gave a strange little purr at Prompt’s touch, and for a moment, Prompto saw a small white dog. But then he blinked and it was only Carbuncle. He stood, looked around and paused when he saw Ignis and Noctis standing together on a bridge not too far away.

His heart filled as he watched Noctis turn around and lean against the railing to look to Ignis. Ignis, for his part, rested his free arm on the railing and looked out over Altissa as he replied to something Noctis had said. When he turned back, for a moment, it almost felt as if his gaze had settled on Prompto, causing the younger man’s stomach to lurch.

When the advisor nodded once in a clear acknowledgement of Prompto’s presence, Prompto grinned and waved. Then he pointed to Noctis, gave a thumbs-up, and fisted his hand over his heart as he bowed. Ignis returned the salute, lifting his fist to his heart briefly before turned to tug Noctis’ arm and draw his attention to below, where Prompto stood.

Prompto slipped around the corner before Noctis could turn around, and crouched to look to Carbuncle. “Okay little guy, it’s time for me to go.” At Carbuncle’s chirp, he nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure. They’re happy. That’s all I needed to know.” Carbuncle bounced up and did a backflip, and Prompto fell backwards in surprise, falling through the bricks of Altissia to the water below, and plunging into darkness.

 

He jolted awake in the back seat of the Star of Lucis, where he vaguely recalled taking refuge before falling asleep, the small teal figurine in his hand. With a smile, Prompto ran a finger along the figurine. “Thanks, buddy.” He pocketed the figurine carefully in his jacket and then climbed out of the car to greet the dawn and start making a difference.

**Author's Note:**

> #ignoctweek
> 
> Orignally started as the entry for the prompt 'Sleep' but put on hold due to a different story wanting to be told. The 'free prompt' day jokingly turned into a 'free Prompto' conversation with demishock, and I took that as a small reminder that this story existed. So with this story, I free Prompto by giving him a happy Ignis and Noctis, together in the Carnival.  
> (And probably break your heart when you realize that even my fluff is rooted in angst and pain.)


End file.
